HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS INTRODUCTION
How many times have you wished that you knew “How to” do something? Well, at iCrossing we are here to help with How to guides covering all different areas of the digital marketing landscape. This is How to Pinterest.
New to Pinterest? Wondering whether it’ll work for your brand, and if so, where to begin? Our social experts Sandra and Mike have compiled the ultimate guide to Pinterest ads. From audience demographics and targeting options, to tried and tested ad tips, get to know this important platform and how it could enhance your paid social strategy.
With more than 400 million monthly active users and over 200 billion Pins saved worldwide, Pinterest is one of the most powerful social media platforms.
Its USP? Consumers are there to discover new things - they want to be influenced, browsing feeds to inspire ideas. And that’s exciting for brands looking to get their product out there.
So, let’s show you how to use Pinterest!
HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS GOT A SPECIFIC QUERY? JUMP STRAIGHT TO THE ANSWER...
WHY ADVERTISE ON PINTEREST? WHY SHOULD I RUN PINTEREST ADS THROUGH iCROSSING? PINTEREST DEMOGRAPHICS HOW MUCH DOES PINTEREST ADVERTISING COST? PINTEREST AD TARGETING OPTIONS WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT PINTEREST AD FORMATS? HOW TO CRAFT A WINNING PINTEREST AD HOW TO USE PINTEREST ADS MANAGER WHAT IS THE TIME SPAN OF A PIN PINTEREST 100: TRENDS REPORT PROS AND CONS OF ADVERTISING ON PINTEREST GET STARTED WITH PINTEREST ADS MEET YOUR iCROSSING SOCIAL SIDEKICKS
HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS WHY ADVERTISE ON PINTEREST?
Advertising on Pinterest is an opportunity for brands to get in front of users at the early, ‘inspiration’ stage of their purchase journey.
On this platform, users are actively searching for topics they’re interested in, and as 97% of searches on Pinterest are unbranded, when you harness that top-of-the-funnel, inspirational intent, you can drive meaningful results. Your content could inspire their next move.
In fact, according to Pinterest it more than doubled traffic to retailers over the past year, and 83% of weekly Pinners have made a purchase based on brand Pins.
HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS WHY SHOULD I RUN PINTEREST ADS THROUGH iCROSSING?
At iCrossing, we’ve seen outstanding results from We run activity at scale across various verticals, Pinterest ad campaigns. This has led to us working and insight gathered over the years helps us deliver closely with the Pinterest team, creating a Partner award-winning results for our clients. We’ve got Success Story with our client Visit Wales. a direct line to Pinterest, gaining early access to new features and betas, all of which helps us improve We see Pinterest as a unique search engine and our optimisation to run truly innovative campaigns. discovery tool, understanding that ads are there to inspire, not disrupt the user while they’re in discovery mode.
HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS PINTEREST DEMOGRAPHICS
Monthly, more than 400 million people depend on Pinterest for new ideas. But who are they? 40% ...of new Pinterest sign-ups are men
72% 27.1% 40% 50%+ ...of Pinterest users are female ...of 26-35-year-olds in the UK ...of parents in the US use Pinterest ...of Pinners live outside the US use Pinterest
85% ...of Pinners use the mobile app
In 2019, Pinners’ top interests were:
Health and wellness Food Travel Celebrations
Parenting Home Style Beauty
HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS HOW MUCH DOES PINTEREST ADVERTISING COST?
You don’t need a big media investment to run ads on Pinterest. You can reach a substantial number of users with a low budget thanks to the platform’s competitive CPM, which can be as low as £2.
HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS PINTEREST AD TARGETING OPTIONS
As well as the standard demographic targeting capabilities such as gender, age or language, Pinterest offers very precise targeting options, allowing you to reach your audience based on unique consumer behaviour and intent seen on the platform.
Target by location Currently, the main regions you can run your ads in are: US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and most European countries. It’s not currently possible to run Pinterest ads in Asia or South America. Target by interests Interest targeting allows you to reach people based on their content interactions. When Pinterest first launched its interest targeting segments, there were 400 to choose from. This has grown to over 6,000 criteria, with latest additions including topics like ‘desk yoga’ and ‘mid-century modern’, some of which are unique to the platform. Target by keywords By targeting keywords, you can reach people based on their search behaviour and related interests. Pins can show up contextually in search results and related Pins, as well as home feeds.
TIP: For maximised performance, we recommend taking learnings from other channels and implementing keywords that worked well on search or display to your Pinterest campaign. You can also use features such as match types and negative keywords to target users with more precision.
HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS ...PINTEREST AD TARGETING OPTIONS
Target by engagement This feature enables you to re-target or exclude people who have previously engaged with your Pins.
TIP: For more sophisticated execution, you can use this tool to target users Target by actalikes sequentially with Pin IDs or % Video Viewed, nurturing consumers and In other words, lookalikes. This allows you to reach people who look driving better engagement. and act like a seed list of audiences from your customer or re-targeting database, e.g. website visitors or top customers.
Pinterest Ad Manager Dashboard
HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT PINTEREST AD FORMATS?
The platform’s innovative ad formats help to inspire users and drive business performance for brands.
Pinterest video ads Promoted video ads can drive awareness, consideration and conversions on the platform. They provide an immersive way to tell your brand or Pinterest promoted Pin ads product stories. Video ads are available in standard and max width formats – standard being the same size as regular Pins, and max being displayed The standard promoted Pin is Pinterest’s basic, fully clickable single-image across two columns on mobile. ad format. It looks like an organic Pin and is best for increasing brand awareness, driving traffic and sales. Pinterest promoted app Pins Promoted app Pins are an effective way for Pinners to install your mobile app directly from the platform (available on iOS and Android devices).
Pinterest carousel ads With space for up to five images in each ad, promoted carousels are great for storytelling and product demonstration. They can drive performance goals like traffic, as well as brand awareness.
HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS HOW TO CRAFT A WINNING PINTEREST AD
Pick a strong image Add branding Use text overlays
Use high-quality, thumb-stopping images that We recommend adding a logo to every Pin, With no text limitations on Pinterest, you can will stand out from feeds. We recommend a so when it serves impressions, Pinners know exactly play with copy overlays to really add to your story. 2:3 aspect ratio that will grab users’ attention. what source it’s from. Keep your logo subtle and It’s a great way to encourage users to take your away from the lower right corner – that’s where desired action, like visiting your site. Pinterest places its product icons.
Add concise copy Keep videos short
Include copy, but make it short and actionable. We’ve found that shorter clips drive better We recommend writing no more than 60 characters performance on Pinterest. Experiment with videos to avoid truncation on some devices. that are 30 seconds or shorter to find the optimal length for your brand and audience.
HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS ...HOW TO CRAFT A WINNING PINTEREST AD
Pinterest ad specs
Ad format Ratio Image specs Ad copy specs Promoted Pin 2:3 1,000 x 5,000 pixels Title: Up to 100 characters Description: Up to 500 characters We recommend 50–60
Promoted Carousel 1:1 / 2:3 1,000 x 1,000 pixels Title: Up to 100 characters 1,000 x 5,000 pixels The first 30–35 characters will show We recommend 2–5 images per carousel in people’s feeds Description: Up to 500 characters We recommend 50–60
Promoted Video 1:1 / 2:3 / 9:16 Minimum 4 seconds, Title: Up to 100 characters maximum 15 minutes Description: Up to 500 characters We recommend max 30 second clips We recommend 50–60
Promoted Video at max width 1:1 / 16:9 Minimum 4 seconds, Title: Up to 100 characters maximum 15 minutes Description: Up to 500 characters We recommend max 30 second clips We recommend 50–60
Promoted App Pin 1:1 / 2:3 / 9:16 Same specs as standard Pins Title: Up to 100 characters (you can use static or video creative) Description: Up to 500 characters We recommend 50–60
HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS HOW TO USE PINTEREST ADS MANAGER
You can create, edit and optimise your ads using Pinterest Ads Manager. Pinterest offer step-by-step guide to setting up campaigns. But this Ad Manager is not as advanced as other platforms. For example, bulk editing is only doable if you download and make the changes offline, before re-uploading to Pinterest. This can lead to errors and eat into resource. WHAT IS THE TIME SPAN OF A PIN?
In comparison to other social posts, a Pin’s life is much longer - so much so that length is measured in months rather than days or hours.
If relevant to a user’s search, Pins could show up in feeds months after they were published. So, your ads will continue to serve earned impressions, even after your campaigns ends. PINTEREST 100: TRENDS REPORT
Every year, Pinterest shares a trend report that advertisers can use to inform their marketing strategy. The Pinterest 100 report includes emerging trends across a number of verticals, such as beauty, travel and health.
If you’re stuck for content ideas or want a little insight for your campaigns, use it to find themes, cultural shifts and changes in consumer behaviour.
HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS PROS AND CONS OF ADVERTISING ON PINTEREST
So what’s to love about advertising on Pinterest, and what could be improved?
Pros Cons
Longer ad lifespan Basic Ads Manager
Cost efficient Limited location targeting
Niche targeting options
Free trends report GET STARTED WITH PINTEREST ADS
Advertising on Pinterest is growing increasingly popular, with 28% of marketers already using the platform to advertise their products and services according to Statista.
If you’re looking to expand your paid social reach and believe that your target audience is already pinning, consider adding Pinterest to your media mix. It’s an exciting and lucrative place to be.
HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS MEET YOUR iCROSSING SOCIAL SIDEKICKS
The paid social landscape is constantly evolving and staying ahead of the curve is key for brands that want to stay Sandra Frankowska competitive and front of mind. Paid social strategist
Hello, my name is Sandra and I first got into social media when I joined At iCrossing we pride ourselves on MySpace back in 2006. I was amazed by how easy it was to connect with people from around the world, while sitting in my bedroom in a very quiet being Growth Partners and can help town in Poland. When I turned 18, I decided to move to England to study unlock your brand’s full growth potential. business advertising and digital media communications. That’s when I quickly realised how fast-paced and exciting the social media landscape really is. Here I am now, 12 years later and still as excited about it as I was then. I love my job because not one day is the same and I get to work with amazing clients, helping them grow their social media presence. To find out more get in touch at [email protected]
Mike Agastiniotis Paid media analyst
Hi, I’m Mike I got into paid social long before joining iCrossing. I was 20 years old and trying to get people to notice my band’s page on Facebook by throwing a few quid at it. Fast-forward almost 10 years and I am still running Facebook ads, only in a much more calculated and educated manner for clients I never dreamed of working with in a million years. Paid social platforms are great because they all differ from each other and people consume content differently on each one. This makes my job really interesting, as I get to understand people’s relationship with ads and learn how to improve ad content to achieve better outcomes for our clients’ goals, whatever they may be!
HOW TO: PINTEREST FOR BUSINESS Visit www.icrossing.com/uk for more advice, or contact us at [email protected] - we’d love to help!
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